Page 99 of One Tough Love

“Thank you.”

Wes nodded and he and Jace returned to Andy’s truck.

Back at T.U.F.’s Jace pulled up the plates of the car immediately. They belonged to a town council member name Marty Mann. Because they now knew it was a kidnapping Andy called an FBI contact and told him everything they knew. Wes was on his computer running Mann through his system.

Andy told Wes that the FBI was going to go question Mann and that they would need the old man to repeat his story. Wes was looking for properties Mann owned that he may have taken Jo to, but he was coming up empty. He owned an estate in town, but the only other thing that he owned was a boat that he kept in Toms River. Wes knew there was no way Mann would keep a hostage at his residence; the man had a wife and children. The boat however, worried Wes. He could have easily dumped Jo out in the ocean. The thought sickened him and he fought down the bile that threatened to come up. Wes told Andy about the boat and Andy called his FBI contact again and asked them to check out the slip where the boat was kept. Wes was beside himself. Jo had been missing for six almost seven days now. The realization that she might be gone had him unglued. She couldn't be dead, he couldn't think negatively. He needed to concentrate.

Wes shut his eyes trying to clear his mind. This was what he was best at, but he had to think without emotion. He thought back to how much Lou and Jo looked alike and how he had almost run to her. Auggie had been smart enough to realize the effects of seeing Jo's identical twin Lou, had done to him. Pete hadn’t said much. Wes could tell he was really concerned and that he was trying it keep it together for his wife. Then Wes thought of Nick. He’d been a pain in the ass since he’d first met him. Wes thought about how uncomfortable he had acted in Jo's home.

On a whim or maybe it was luck, maybe the hand of God, Wes would never know, but Wes entered Nick's name into Google, along with Mann's and was rewarded with a hit. A picture from a newspaper taken four years ago showed a ribbon cutting ceremony. In the picture was a man tagged as Mann, Jo’s old boss Henry, the current mayor of Magis, and standing in the background, looking younger, but as pompous as ever was Nick.

Wes called the boys in and told them to pull up everything they could on Nick. The three sat in Wes’ office searching.

Jace ticked off Nick’s basic, education, residence, and net worth. He had no siblings and his mother was his only living relative. Andy interjected that he didn’t own anything except the townhouse he lived in. Wes discovered a home in Toms River that was in his mother's name. The room was quiet for all of five seconds, and then Jace told the guys in a deadly voice. “His mother has been in a nursing home for the last four years.”

Wes hacked into JCP&L records and found that the power was still connected, and according to JCP&L, the house had been using more than usual amounts of power for the past week. The men looked at each other and jumped up.

“Porsche.” Wes said moving quickly.

“We don’t know for sure that she’s there Wes. He could be renting it.” Andy tried to keep the big man calm.

“I saw the bastard today guys. He was acting hinky. My gut is telling me she’s there.”

His two friends stood immediately. When Wes had a gut feeling you could bank on it.

“Gun, Wes.” Jace said urgently.

Wes pulled out his automatic from his top drawer, made sure it was loaded, and then he and Andy ran for the car.

Jace followed them in his Cadillac. Andy connected with Jace on their phones as Wes flew down the Parkway. He was pushing 110. Andy had called the FBI about the house, but his friend said they didn’t have enough proof to hit it. He told Andy he would alert the agents in that area about it though. They hesitated to call the local police department and risk a hostage situation. Jace did his part by calling in a favor with his State Trooper friend to find out where the speed traps were.

There were none and the two cars reached Toms River in thirty minutes. Jace told Andy to get Wes to ease up going through the little neighborhoods, and he heard Andy say something and saw that Wes slowed down a little, but he was still going at a crazy high speed.

“Wes, listen to me.” Jace said through the speakers. “Use your head man. We have to go in black.”

Wes looked at the GPS and saw they were a block away from their destination. He swung his car to the side of the road and jumped out. Andy followed and Jace pulled in a few minutes later. Andy had given Wes an earpiece and small mic then he put in his earpiece and told Jace that they were at the house and it looked deserted.

Wes' heart was thudding. It was so quiet; there was no way someone was inside the house. His gut was never wrong, and he feared that he was too emotionally invested. He felt sweat drip down his spine at what they'd find inside. Andy carefully stepped up the back steps and peered inside.

“Anything?” Wes whispered.

“Nothing. We have to break in.”

Wes nodded. “Jace we’re going in.”

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“Copy that.” Jace answered.

Andy used his elbow to break the small pane of glass closest to the handle and reached in to unlock the door. He opened the door and he and Wes entered into the kitchen of the small ranch.

Wes motioned that he was heading down one hall while Andy went around the other way. When they circled back around to the kitchen they heard Jace, through their earpieces, whispering that he was coming in the kitchen door. The men met in the kitchen and looked at each other baffled. Wes was becoming unhinged. He had been certain that Nick was a part of this. There was a door in the kitchen and Jace opened it revealing steps leading down to a cellar.

Andy took out his cell and used the flashlight app as they cautiously moved down the steps. The stairway was narrow and it smelt musty, but the further they descended other smells hit them. They were pungent odors that they’d smelled before when they had been in Afghanistan, a mixture of blood, decay, and piss assaulted their nostrils. Andy shot Jace a look. If they found Jo here, Wes was going to lose it. At the bottom the steps Andy swung his light around the small room.

There, tied to a cot lay Jo. She was naked with blood and fecal stained newspapers underneath her small unmoving body. There was dried blood clinging to her skin from varying cuts that had been left to fester. Bruises marred her swollen face. Her lips were so dry that they were brown with old skin and cracked open, and her eyes were closed, but worst of all was how still she was.

A cry of anguish left Wes' lips as he fell to his knees. Jace remained next to him. Andy walked to Jo. She was a mess. He could see that her shoulder was separated and there were burns where she’d been tasered. The smell was awful but he needed to check her pulse. As he approached her he prayed to see her chest rise and fall, but he didn’t. He reached down to her neck and to his surprise he felt that she had a pulse, a very weak pulse but it was a pulse.

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